Burlington Coat sheds profits.(Business Today)

Home Textiles Today, January, 2004 by Hogsett, Don

BURLINGTON, NJ -- Hampered by unseasonably warm weather, which put a crimp in same-store sales, and disruption caused by store relocations, second fiscal quarter profits tumbled by more than a third at Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse, to $27.1 million from $41.6 million last year. Net retail sales at the parent of Luxury Linens limped ahead by 0.9 percent, to $789.6 million from $782.8 million last year, helped by new store openings.

But the crucial gauge of same-store sales fell by 5.9 percent. Acting as a drag on earnings in addition to the falling comps was a punishing trifecta of rising costs, higher interest expense and thinning margins. Under pricing pressure, average gross margin narrowed by 120 basis points, or 1.2 percentage points,...